Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1887-03-17
MARTHA WASHINGTON.
She vs., q Poor ,peller and Her Grammar
Wonid Not Pass Muster.


She VS.. q Poor speilcr and Her Grammar
Wanld Not Pass Muster
Cosmopolitan
Martha Washington vas not an educat
eel woman in the sense of to-day. She
did not spell WELL and her grammar
would hardly stand the parsing OF the
public schools. Copies OF two of her
letters - her sister, Mrs. Bassett, lie be-
fore me. They were written at abeu,
the beginning of the Revolution. She
began one thus: 81 have wrote 10 YOU
several times, in hopes it would pat YOU
in mind OF me, but | find it has not had
it, intended effect" Further on she adds.
THE rivers has never been frozen hard
enough to walk upon the ice since came
here Among the misspelt words of the
letter are: Marcy for navy, "loded"
for loaded, coles for Goals, distant
for destined, "cleren for clear, "heare' for
here. "plesedn for pleased, and greatful'
for grateful. Company she spells "com.
paneg" and persuaded persuaded
IN the fac slmile of g letter that she
wrote 20 William B. Reed, OF New York,
in 1911, I see that she knew no other
punctuation mark than tho dash, that the
apostrophe was a stranger to her. and
that her writing, though not illegibls,
was far from beautiful or elegant The
use OF the capital was as embarrassing to
her as the use Of the punctuation point
and her letters look as though the CAPT.
tails had been shaken out of a mammoth
pepPeC-box and permitted to lie wherever
they fell.
One of her letters. commencing "My
Dear Fanny was lately communicate
by Rev. II. E. Hayden. OF Pennsylvania
TO The Magazine of American History"
Ii is dated Mount Vernon. Aug. 7. 1884"
and the verbatim spelling and punctUa-
tion are preserved in the publication.
Some OF the sentences begin with CAPT
tails and some without. She writes Of
any little nelly" referring probably to
Nellie Curtis. and in the same line says
that Tut Is the same claver Clever boy
you left him thus cspitalizing the boys
name while she gives no capital to that
of the girl. She writes Fanny "that the
General had received a letter from her
papa dated at richmond" begins the
next sentence with a small letter, and
in it capitalizes Brother Family aud
General
A person uses his best grammar while
writing, and he who makes mistakes here
makes more in conversation. Martha
Washington may have been well educated
in the school of society and in that Of
life. She was certainly not so in books
and literature. There was no library to
speak Of at, Mt, Vernon, and Gen, Wash
iugtou vas more of an out door man than
a student We have no record of his wife
beng a reader, save that she read chapi
er of her Bible every morning. She knew
nothing about novels, and the American
monthly magazine, the great family sdd-
Gator of the present, was not yet born.
Martha Washington had, however ne
best advantages of the day. Her whole
life was spent among learned men and
bright women, but there is no record leil
that she was brilliant in social conversa
| ton, and you will read in vain for the re
ported bon mots of Martha Washington
The truth seems to be that Martha Wash
( lngton thought woman's sphere was home
aud that knitting and cooking we're more
important than writing letters and
| knowledge of French. She is said to have
been good business woman and to have
managed the large estate of her first hu''
band very ably before she handedher share
of 1t over TO George Washington.
Men, such as U. S. Senator VOORHEES,, OF
Indiana, are loud in their praise OF ~
Jacobs Oil as an instantaneous cure 10Y
rheumatism, neuralgia, sciatioa and oth"
bodily pains.
People should be careful how they &C.
cept the prescriptions found in the dan!
papers. A sure cure for diphtherie puo,.
llshed by some of the papers, prescribe
q tablespoonful of turpentine for adnl'
and teaspoonful for children freq ueA'.
Is repeated-sn excessive or polsonou'
dose of substance which must IN an!
case be administered with great caution.
DR. Foote's Health Monthly
Everybody's companion Is nobody :
friend, but Red Star Cough Cure Is ever!
hody's friend. Prof. Grothe, OF ~.
Brooklyn Board Of Health, endorses u 7
prompt, safe and sure. Price tHen'!
i've cents bottle.
All fowls that feather slowly are usus!i!
hardy. For instance, the Brahmss. T. =
owing to the fact that the drsin on N.
system octasioned by quick teathe 'l.-,,,
does not weaken them. SLOW festheilus
while growing Is indicative of harG'uss'
It 80 cezte arians died in Lowell on -
day Paul McAloon, aged lOl years ~
Rose Mcguire, 1913 years. Both we're q
/ tiyes of Ireland. and had lived IL 1--we
snsarlv halt a century
Parents ana spectators, instead q i.
/ children a-,s }ft.id resi- Ou=Ible Tor CT i+~-
committed bY ttslatter
Il Is asserted that ,ooo women OF II
manage farms id Iowa.